Former Jehovah’s Witness Jonathan Lavoie, Jean-Claude’s brother, has since launched an internet petition (written in French) calling on the federal government to make it illegal for a person to refuse treatment on religious grounds.

“The Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse blood transfusions for religious reasons,” Jonathan Lavoie writes on the petition’s website. “This creates enormous stress for the family.”

Jonathan maintains that his brother would still be alive if he had received a transfusion.
But Jean-Claude’s father told TQS he is willing to accept his son’s decision: “At the beginning it was anticipated that in his case they would be able to operate without a transfusion, but there were complications. It’s unfortunate, but it came to that. It’s important to respect Jean-Claude’s choice.”

Tawnya has been unconscious since July 31, when she collapsed because of a bad reaction to a diet drug. Doctors told the family that she might need a blood transfusion if she had to undergo a tracheotomy or other emergency surgery. Tawnya has not needed a blood transfusion, and her condition has improved. But she remains unconscious, and her father — who is not a Jehovah’s Witness — asked a judge to give him, rather than her husband Chris Nissen, the power to decide on her treatment.

Both sides agree that Tawnya has studied the teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses but has not been baptized as one. They disagree over how committed she is to the religion’s stance against blood transfusions.

Frank Santiago, the husband’s lawyer, said Tawnya signed a card identifying herself as a Jehovah’s Witness and saying she did not want blood. But her husband has been unable to find that card.

Her aunt, Becky Reid said, Tawnya Nissen seemed less committed to the Jehovah’s Witness religion than her husband was. “We feel if she was that interested in converting, she would have been baptized.”

Johnson County District Judge Marsha Beckelman ruled Tuesday that Tawnya Nissen’s father, Richard Reid, should be granted temporary guardianship to make medical decisions until Nissen regains consciousness. Husband Chris Nissen has the right to be present during discussions of his wife’s care.

“We’re unhappy about it,” Santiago said of Beckelman’s ruling. “Of course our main concern is the interest of Tawnya, and we believe that the husband is in a better position to make sure that Tawnya received all the medical attention that she herself would want.”

‘‘It’s like our prayers have been answered,’’ said Richard Reid Sr., Tawnya’s grandfather who is not a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Based on The Desmoines Register and ReligionNewsBlog.com articles

Doctors at the Pretoria Academic Hospital have obtained an urgent court order enabling them to give a month-old baby a blood transfusion. They felt the life of the infant – one of twins – was at stake.

But the baby’s family, who live in Sunnyside and are Jehovah’s Witnesses, are deeply distressed.

The baby’s grandmother said the hospital knew about their faith and the fact that blood transfusion was against their religion.

To make matters worse, the 22-year-old mother of the child had to witness the blood being transfused to the baby, the grandmother said.

“They obtained the order late on Saturday night because they said it was urgent. Urgent means urgent, so why, when my daughter got to the hospital the next afternoon, did she have to witness the transfusion?

“We were told it would only take four hours to administer. Why did they only have to do it the next afternoon? Seeing the transfusion had upset her terribly,” she said.

The twins were born on September 20 and they were premature: her daughter had been due to give birth only in December.

The infants were placed in an incubator, but one boy developed complications. He became anaemic and the doctors told the family that he urgently needed a blood transfusion.

“I told them that I signed a form during admission that transfusions are against our religion.

“I eventually even got our priest to explain the situation to them. I told them that we would rather pray and hope he would survive.”

The grandmother said to the surprise of the doctors the infant did seem a bit better. “We were so happy we cried with joy.”

But she said a week later he experienced another setback and the doctors once again insisted on a transfusion.

The family again refused and the grandmother said a doctor suggested alternative medication, which would increase the infant’s haemoglobin levels. “The doctor said the medicine would take about three weeks to work,” the grandmother said.

On Saturday, while the family was visiting the infants, the doctors again insisted on a transfusion. The family was told on Saturday evening that the doctors were headed for the Pretoria High Court to obtain an order.

Judge Willie Seriti heard oral evidence late that evening from paediatricians and a neurologist who said the baby suffered from severe anaemia, coupled with secondary heart failure, and that his life depended on a transfusion.

The doctors asked the court to override the family’s wishes that the child should not be given a transfusion.

Before granting the order, the judge also heard from the family, who still persisted that they opposed a transfusion.

The grandmother said she believed a transfusion was unnecessary as the doctor said the child should recover from the alternative treatment which was administered about two weeks ago.

“They said it would only work after three weeks. Why go to court and not wait for it to work? I believe the only reason is that we are being discriminated against based on our religion,” the grandmother said.

She said by late on Monday afternoon she could not detect a change in the baby’s condition. He was still attached to a ventilator. The other twin, however, is doing fine, although he is also still in hospital.

A Pretoria Academic Hospital spokesperson, Fredah Kobo, declined to comment on Monday.

Source: Pretoria News

Daryl Slade

Calgary Herald, Page E4

Sunday, November 16, 2003

A bitter clash between religious beliefs and medical treatment led to the ultimate breakup and bankruptcy of a Calgary family, a judge has concluded in the parents’ divorce action.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Rosemary Nation said in her 29-page decision the catalyst for the breakup between Lawrence and Arliss Hughes and their two daughters was differing opinions on whether their oldest daughter, Bethany, should receive blood transfusions,

All members of the family had been Jehovah’s Witnesses for nearly 20 years and were opposed to receiving blood products when Bethany was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in February 2002.

Bethany, then 16, was made a ward of the province and given chemotherapy and more than three dozen blood transfusions against her will.

She died at age 17 in September 2002 — about seven months later.

Lawrence Hughes changed his position after discussions with doctors and fought to have his daughter receive what he believed was the best medical care.

“There is no question that Bethany’s illness led Mr. Hughes to seriously question and ultimately reject the teaching of his and his family’s religion, and that he paid a high price for that moral and religious decision, including the shunning by the Jehovah Witness congregation and alienation from his wife and children,” Nation wrote in her 29-page decision.

Calgary lawyer Vaughn Marshall, who assisted Lawrence Hughes in the proceedings, said the case is important because it makes it clear the real cause of the family breakup was the opposing religious positions taken by the parents in a life-and-death decision regarding their daughter.

“You’d think their religious beliefs would provide comfort to a husband and wife whose child was stricken with a life-threatening illness and guide the family through the crisis,” said Marshall.

“But, in this case, it not only failed to do that, it destroyed the family. First, Lawrence Hughes lost his daughter, then he lost his family.”

However, Shane Brady, lawyer for Bethany Hughes in the child welfare matter and Arliss Hughes in the divorce proceedings, said the judgment recognizes it was Bethany who made the decision about blood transfusions. ‘Arliss was concerned about (the child welfare judge’s comments) about Arliss’s parenting abilities and that she may have influenced Bethany,” said Brady. “Justice Nation was the only one who heard live evidence from anyone and she repeated a number of times that it was Bethany who made the decision and that Arliss was simply supporting Bethany in her decision”.

“Arliss is pleased that has been clarified and cleaned up” he said.

Brady also said Nation did recognize in a couple of passages it was the maturity of Bethany that was really the factor in the medical treatment decisions.

“Her view all the way along and the evidence led in court was that the family had problems even before Bethany got sick, and this is just one tragic, tragic result of the family’s circum stances,” said Brady.

Lawrence Hughes testified during the trial he incurred more than $200,000 in legal fees and paid $20,000 of it out of his own pocket, pushing him into bankruptcy.

Brady represented Bethany in her court battle, which included applying for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada about the rights of a 16-year-old to determine her own treatment.

“I do recognize that the religious views of the Jehovah Witness faith, as they were presented in court by the father and not contradicted in court by the mother, would lead members of the faith (which would include Mrs. Hughes and two daughters) to disagree with the position of Mr. Hughes in relation to blood transfusions and reject him because of those views,” wrote Nation.

She added, however, she did not believe either parent defending their religious belief as it relates to a matter as fundamental as the medical treatment of their child, could be considered misconduct under the Divorce Act.

dslade@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright 2003 Calgary Herald

Parents fight for custody of little sister

© Copyright  2003 Calgary Herald

The agreement reached Thursday between attorneys for Child Protective Services and Shawn and Alicia Castillo clears the way for the couple to transfer their son to a Fort Worth hospital. Doctors there are trained in alternate methods of treatment that could reduce the need for transfusions.

The deal allows the state to authorize blood transfusions that go against the parents’ religious beliefs.

Jehovah’s Witnesses say the Bible admonishes believers from allowing any medical practice that gives a patient blood, according to a Web site authorized by the faith.

The order was to be signed by the judge Friday after minor details were resolved, the Waco Tribune-Herald reported.

Child Protective Services took custody of 1-pound, 9-ounce Connor soon after his Nov. 16 birth because his parents refused to allow transfusions.

Connor was too small to produce blood and needed a dozen or more transfusions to survive, doctors argued in court documents.

Connor has continued to receive transfusions and remains in an incubator at Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco.

Representatives from both sides say the original removal order reflects a medical issue and does not indicate any abuse by the Castillos.

More than 50 friends, relatives and fellow worshippers packed Waco’s 74th State District Court on Thursday to listen to Judge Alan Mayfield go over the agreement.

The order says the state will act as Connor’s custodian only when doctors feel a transfusion is needed. The parents will be in charge of all other matters, including where and by whom Connor is treated.

The order also says that when doctors give Connor blood, it should be no more than medically necessary.

“This type of case, where there’s a clash between medical legal requirements and religious beliefs, can become uncomfortable,” said W. McNab Miller III, the couple’s Houston-based attorney.

“Delightfully, no one ran roughshod over the religious beliefs of the family,” Mr. Miller said.

Mr. Miller told the Tribune-Herald that he has handled about 10 such cases in Texas involving infants of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and usually courts will approve seeking such alternative treatments.

(07:28 PM CST on Saturday, December 6, 2003

Associated Press )

Patience Edema, a Jehovah’s Witness, 24, died three days after giving birth to her second daughter, on Tuesday, October 24 last year, from complications after an emergency hysterectomy an operation to remove the womb.

At an inquest into her death at Walthamstow Coroner’s Court, coroner Elizabeth Stearns said Mrs Edema, of Grange Park Road, Leyton, died from “post-operative complications for which she refused medical intervention, namely, a blood transfusion.”

Mrs Edema, who was seven and a half months pregnant and had suffered two previous miscarriages in her home country of Nigeria, arrived at Whipps Cross for a routine appointment with her husband Omatseye on Friday, October 17.

After a four hour wait they were seen at midnight by a doctor who said she would have to be admitted because of rising blood pressure and possible pre-eclampsia.

Mrs Edema gave birth to her baby daughter through an emergency caesarean section on Monday, October 21 after doctors become concerned with her rising blood pressure, and had diagnosed her with pre-eclampsia. They were also worried about the small size of the baby in the womb.

There were no complications with the caesarean section, which undoubtedly saved the baby’s life, and mother and baby were doing fine under the close observation of hospital staff.

Early on Tuesday morning, Mrs Edema started to show signs that she was not well. The doctors noticed she had not passed urine, a fact her husband had pointed out six hours after she had delivered the baby.

Doctors became concerned that her face, feet and hands had started to swell and phoned her husband to alert him that she could be bleeding internally.

Before the emergency hysterectomy was carried out, the couple were advised by doctors that a blood transfusion would be necessary and could make the difference between life and death.

However, they both said no and a form was filled out to say no blood products were to be used during treatment because of their religious faith.

After the surgery Mrs Edema was placed on a dialysis and a life support machine in the intensive care unit, where she died on the Thursday at 12.40am.

In a statement recalling the events that led up to his wife’s death, Mr Edema said: “I am now left alone on a strange terrain to cater for my two daughters as a single parent. All my wife’s ambitions and inspirations have been nipped in the bud. Can my life be the same again?”

Norma Kissoon was so committed to her faith that, even as she lay seriously ill in Leicester Royal Infirmary, she and her family told doctors she could not accept the treatment.

Jehovah’s Witnesses interpret a section of the Bible as forbidding blood transfusions.

However, 68-year-old Mrs Kissoon, of Braunstone Town, desperately needed one after she suffered complications following a routine procedure to check for heart disease, an inquest in Leicester heard.

She had undergone an angiogram at Glenfield Hospital, which involved inserting a needle into her thigh.

The results showed no trace of heart disease, but the procedure had triggered internal bleeding and she was admitted to the LRI after feeling unwell at home.

Consultant Dr James Reid said a senior house officer spoke to her about a blood transfusion. He said: “We were aware she was a Jehovah’s Witness and he said without a blood transfusion there was a risk of death. She was clear she did not want it even it if was life-saving.

“I think it is more likely she would have survived had she allowed a blood transfusion or clotting agents to be given.

“The issue was discussed by four doctors and the surgical team.

“Throughout she was consistent in refusing it, even if this was putting her life at risk.”

The inquest heard Mrs Kissoon died on the operating table in the early hours of February 4 as doctors fought to save her.

A post-mortem examination found blood loss was the cause of death.

Consultant vascular surgeon Professor Peter Bell said in a statement: “A blood transfusion at almost any stage in this treatment would, on the balance of probabilities, have saved her life.

“Despite multiple attempts for the family or her to accept this, she would not.”

Deputy coroner Peter Ward recorded a verdict of misadventure.

A spokeswoman for the General Medical Council said: “Our guidance on consent means the fact that the lady was a competent adult entitles her to say no to any treatment.”

Mrs Kissoon’s husband, Frederick, attended the inquest but declined to comment afterwards.

A Witness spokesman called the accusations “outrageous,” and pointed out that these are words from a grieving father.
Wayne McKee, a Jehovah’s Witness elder in Calgary, said the church hasn’t been involved in separating the family and isn’t responsible for her death.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses have been very supportive to the family throughout this situation and we continue to offer comfort and help.”
Hughes’ lawyer, Bob Calvert, said his client intends to file a worldwide class-action lawsuit against the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but nothing has yet been filed.
He added others have expressed interest in joining the suit.
Calvert said he is considering whether to take the case and has been offered a retainer.
“It’s complicated,” he said. “There’s a lot of issues to be resolved.”
Hughes had split with the religious group and his family, soon after consenting to blood transfusions treatment for the teen. His wife and daughter moved from the Calgary home last June and Hughes has since filed for divorce, which includes seeking custody of his youngest daughter.
“I’m holding the Watchtower Society responsible,” Hughes said outside the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton where Bethany died.
Bethany’s lawyer, David Gnam, who was standing to the side as Hughes made the accusations, challenged the father in front of reporters on a number of points.
“I understand that he’s a grieving father and he’s lashing out, I can understand because maybe I’m lashing out too,” Gnam said shortly after the heated exchange.
Hughes contends that since mid-July, when Bethany went to Edmonton for chemotherapy treatment without blood transfusions, he hasn’t had access to his daughter.
Gnam agrees that Hughes didn’t have a phone number to call Bethany and didn’t know where she was staying, but he he said that Bethany had agreed to meet her father.
Hughes contends the visits offered had restrictions and was seeking wider access.
Both Gnam and Hughes agree that Bethany telephoned her father in Calgary once or twice a week.
Gnam said Hughes, instead of blaming the Jehovah’s Witnesses, should take some responsibility as a father who introduced his daughter to the faith and taught her many of the church’s beliefs.
“He was the one teaching his daughter ….”
Shortly after Bethany was diagnosed in mid-February, she lost a lengthy court battle to stop the blood transfusions. Throughout court proceedings, judges consistently went against the findings of psychiatrists and bioethicists who argued that Bethany was a mature minor. The courts awarded the province temporary custody under Alberta Child Welfare Act.
In its findings, the courts decided that the teen was pressured by her religion to refuse the transfusions and that she didn’t have a free, informed will.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are taught that the Bible states in Acts 15:28 that blood transfusions are against God’s wishes.
Doctors gave Bethany a 40 to 50 per cent chance of beating the cancer with intensive chemotherapy and blood transfusions. But after four months of treatment, cancerous lesions appeared on her back and doctors held out little hope that she would survive.
During her last weeks, Bethany battled her disease on her own terms without blood transfusions, her mother, Arliss, said after her daughter died.
The last time Hughes saw his daughter was mid-July, just before Bethany, her mother and younger sister left for treatment in Edmonton.
He spent three hours in his lawyer’s office Thursday exploring legal avenues in a bid to see his dying daughter.